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Stanford Rebounds For 12th Straight Road Win, 9-8 At California

Berkeley, Calif. - Ryan Garko's two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth inning scored Jonny Ash with the game-winning run to lift No. 7 and first-place Stanford (33-14, 14-5 Pac-10) to a 9-8 victory over California (27-25, 10-12 Pac-10) at Evans Diamond on Friday, extending its season-long road win streak to 12 games. Garko (2-5, HR, 3 RBI) also hit his team-leading 14th homer of the season in a six-run Stanford first and the Cardinal led 7-1 before California rolled off seven unanswered runs to take an 8-7 lead after six innings. Stanford tied the game on a two-out RBI triple by Brian Hall in the eighth before Garko's ninth inning game-winner.

'This was a good college baseball game with both teams going back and forth,' said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. 'Obviously, the two-out hits in the eighth inning by (Brian) Hall and the ninth inning by (Ryan) Garko were huge for us.'

Kodiak Quick (2-0) earned the victory, holding California scoreless on two hits with three strikeouts in 3.2 innings of relief. Quick came on after the Golden Bears had taken their 8-7 lead on a two-run homer by Justin Nelson with no outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

'It's always important just to put zeros on the scoreboard as a pitcher,' said Quick. 'Our coaches told me that if I could hold them down we would win and that's what happened.'

Matt Manship relieved Quick after a two-out by Conor Jackson (3-5, HR, 3 RBI) off Quick in the bottom of the ninth and forced Chris Grossman (3-4, 2B) into a game-ending fielders choice to record his team-leading sixth save of the season.

'I just wanted to pick up Kodiak (Quick) and the entire team by getting that last out,' said Manship. 'Kodiak did a great job for us today.'

'Kodiak Quick was the difference for us in this game,' added Marquess. 'We really didn't slow California down until he came into the game.'

Jed Lowrie (3-4) had three hits for the Cardinal, while Ash (2-3, 2B, 3B, RBI) and Sam Fuld (2-4) picked up two each. Chris Carter hit his first homer of the season and drove in a pair of runs with a two-run shot in the top of the first inning.

Matt Brown (3-7) suffered the loss for the Golden Bears, allowing the game-winning run and three hits over the final 1.1 innings. Adam Gold had an impressive relief outing for California, giving up only an unearned run and three hits in 6.2 innings after relieving starter Jesse Ingram (0.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB) with one out in the top of the first inning.

Stanford scored four runs before the Golden Bears recorded an out in a six-run top of the first. Fuld led off with a walk and scored on an RBI double by Ash. Quentin then singled to center field and Ash scored when Golden Bear centerfielder Ben Conley bobbled the ball for an error before Garko hit a mammoth two-run homer over the leftcenter field fence to make the score 4-0. Lowrie beat out an infield single with one out to restart the rally, advanced to second on a balk and scored on Carter's two-run blast that skimmed the top of the wall in rightcenter field before leaving the ballpark.

California got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning when Grossman led off with a double and scored on a one-out RBI double by James Holder.

Stanford answered with an unearned run in the top of the third when Danny Putnam led off by reaching on an error by Holder at first, moved to third on a Lowrie single and scored when Carter hit into a double play.

California started its comeback with a run in the bottom of the third. Conley led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a single by Brian Horwitz, before scoring on another wild pitch.

The Golden Bears picked up four runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Cardinal lead to 7-6 in a rally capped by Jackson's three-run homer. Craig started the inning with a leadoff single, moved to second on a groundout and scored on an RBI double by David Nicholson for the first run of the inning. Cardinal rightfielder Carlos Quentin dropped a fly ball down the right field line for an error to put runners at second and third base, while Stanford starter John Hudgins was removed from the contest after the play. Hudgins lasted just 4.1 innings, his shortest outing of the year, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits. Jackson then greeted reliever David O'Hagan with his three-run homer over the left field fence.

California scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to take an 8-7 lead when O'Hagan hit Holder to lead off the inning and Nelson blasted a long two-run homer over the rightcenter field wall.

'You have to give California a lot of credit the way the came back after being behind by six runs,' said Garko. 'But, it was a real big win for us to blow a six-run lead and then come back to win.'

Gold pitched a scoreless seventh before Travis Talbott came on to start the eighth. Brown relieved Talbott with two outs and Lowrie on second before allowing Hall's RBI triple to tie the game at 8-8.

'It felt really good to come up with a big hit in a spot like that,' said Hall.

In the ninth, Ash tripled with one out to set up Garko's game-winning hit.

Both teams collected 12 hits, while California stranded six runners and the Cardinal left five on base.

Stanford and California will continue their three-game Pac-10 series Saturday and Sunday with start times scheduled both days for 1:00 pm. The Cardinal needs just one victory to win its 10th series in its last 11 tries. Stanford is scheduled to start LHP Mark Romanczuk (9-0, 3.63), while California has not announced a starter. With five conference games remaining on its schedule, Stanford (14-5 Pac-10) currently leads the Pac-10 race by two games over Arizona State (10-5 Pac-10) and is two and a half games in front of Arizona (11-7 Pac-10).